This invention relates to a sealing assembly for maintaining a fluid-tight seal around the passages which extend through two separate housing portions.
In the construction of certain types of machinery, it is often necessary to couple together, by means of bolts or other suitable devices, two separate sections of a housing assembly. It also is often necessary to communicate pressurized fluid, such as hydraulic fluid, between passages in the two housing sections. Fluid seals have been maintained in such assemblies by means of a single, hollow cylindrical bushing having sections received by corresponding bores in the two housing sections. Each bushing section included a groove-mounted O-ring to seal between each bushing section and the wall of the corresponding housing bore. However, such a single bushing seal required that the bores in the two separate housing sections be precisely aligned to prevent damage to the O-rings, the bushing or the housing sections as the two housing sections are drawn together around the single bushing during final assembly. Accordingly, it would simplify the assembly process and reduce the number of damaged parts if a sealing arrangement were available which would maintain a fluid seal between the housing sections while permitting a certain amount of misalignment between the housing sections as they are drawn together.